Unlike factory workers in the United States, who can rely on factory safety standards that advocates such as Frances Perkins and Crystal Eastman inspired over a hundred years ago, factory employees in underdeveloped countries like Bangladesh have only recently experienced a transformation in the security of their work environments.

On November 24, 2012, the Tazreen Fashion Factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh went up in flames. According to a survivor testimony in The Guardian, the alarm raised around 6:45 p.m. after a short circuit on the first floor presumably ignited a fire in some piles of yarn and fabric. One survivor, Zakir Hossain, recounts,

"The office staff asked us to stay where we were, telling us not to panic. We did not listen to them and started moving out. A lot of people were stuck there. Some people got out climbing down the bamboo [scaffolding] tied against the building."

Before the fire burned out, 150 workers were injured, 12 passed away in the hospital, and 111 died on site, many of whom were burned beyond recognition.

The neglected perils that led to the fire were not unique to the Tazreen Fashion Factory. Between 1995 and 2015, over 1,600 factory workers across Bangladesh died in building collapses and fires, resulting from improperly stored flammable materials, unprotected ignition sources, barred exits, and a lack of fire suppression systems, fire doors, and evacuation plans.¹ 

Like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the Tazreen Fashion fire was a public display of systematic apathy and disregarded safety standards. Combined with the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013, the Tazreen fire propelled a change in the protection of garment factory workers.

Since the Tazreen fire, Bangladesh has implemented regulations and laws to defend its garment workers. Both U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe collaborated with multiple apparel industries and stakeholders to create the Alliance for Bangladesh in hope to improve fire, structural and electrical safety within Bangladesh’s garment factories. To reach this goal, the Alliance implemented five strategic pillars:

• Inspections

• Remediation

• Sustainability

• Worker empowerment

• Training

Since 2013, the Alliance has successfully closed eight unsafe Bangladeshi factories. They continue to develop and resources to ensure that factory owners can complete remediation in their factories and provide a safe environment for garment workers.

                  1. Garret. Brown, “Bangladesh: Currently the Worst, but Possibly the Future’s Best,” New Solutions 24, no. 4 (2015): 469-73.